What Are The Benefits of Compound Exercises For Muscle Growth?

Compound exercises are very beneficial for those who juggle between different commitments like work, school, home and sports. As they increase strength and size much more than the traditional exercises, they also produce more bulk and power.

Compound exercises are resistance based exercises that combines more than one body part. Multiple muscle groups are used for this kind of training. Some people believe in isolating muscle groups (like bicep etc.) but this is not the best way to utilize your time and your body.

You can train several body parts in the same amount of time it takes to train isolated muscle groups. With compound exercises, you can use weights to gain the maximum benefit in the least amount of time. Our bodies are naturally a multi-link system which works in harmony to produce energy in different ways. For example, when you bend to pick up a weight, it is not just your arm muscles but also your back muscles that you use for the action to be completed. This is called a kinetic chain. Using the kinetic chain in exercising is most beneficial in building muscles.

Compound exercises stimulate many different hormone releases in high levels which contribute to building lean muscles, burn fat and improve your overall health. These hormones are testosterone, growth factor 1 which is an insulin-like hormone and growth hormones.

Working more than one muscle group improves balance and co-ordination. They also work core stabilizer muscles for abdominal and lower back strength and improves posture. This exercise also steps up your heart beat rate which further helps in far burning. They are fun as you move more and doing more at the same time which can alleviate boredom.

A bench press is a compound exercise as it exercises your chest, shoulders and triceps. Other examples of compound exercises are squats, deadlifts, pushups, pull-ups and clean and jerk.

This is the reason that power lifters have massive bulk. Their main routine consists of just three multi-joint (combined) exercises - squats, deadlifts and bench presses. To this you can add other multi joint exercises like overhead or shoulder presses, pull-down, dips and lunges.

Of course, this is not to say that isolation exercises are inferior. To get complete muscle fiber stimulation, one should take advantage of both types of exercises. Nevertheless, if your main goal is build up bulk, then compound exercises should be the main focal point of your exercise program.